Effect of Methodological Choices on Pavement Life-Cycle Assessment (original) (raw)

The application of life-cycle assessment (LCA) in evaluating the environmental impact of pavement systems has increased over the past two decades. The ability to quantify environmental impact over the lifespan of a pavement gives valuable insight to stakeholders in the transportation industry when making decisions about pavement planning, design, construction, and management. As a methodology, LCA is governed by a set of rules and preferences that are uniquely decided in the goal and scope of each study. Some of these choices refer to general LCA methodological elements such as those pertaining to the system boundary, cut-off criteria, or data quality requirements. Other choices are specific to the product system, such as the treatment of traffic growth or asphalt binder allocation for pavement LCA. When conducting an LCA, it is important to understand how rules and choices affect the results of the study.